Unique things to do in Mozambique on a luxury beach holiday

In the sun-dappled water, we see them clearly through our snorkel masks. First one, then five, then a whole pod of over 30 sleek gray bottlenose dolphins glide past, directly below us. We’re snorkeling with wild dolphins in the untrammeled Quirimbas Archipelago – just one of many unique things to do in Mozambique on a luxury getaway!

Things to do in Mozambique

Swimming with dolphins in Mozambique:

It’s here that we’re swimming with dolphins in Mozambique. To see the dolphins, we took a 20-minute speedboat ride from Ibo Island in the Quirimbas Archipelago to a spot known locally as a natural dolphin breeding area and nursery.

The calves snuggle up close to their moms, tails swishing back and forth twice as fast to keep up.

One dolphin hangs back. Turning around, he (she?) digs up a sand dollar with its nose from the sandy bottom and flips it at us, as if to say “Wanna play?”

Snorkeling with wild dolphins in the Quirimbas Islands is a once-in-a-lifetime experience! photo Ibo Island Lodge

It seems surreal to be hanging out up-close-and-personal with these free and wondrous creatures.

We’ve swum with other dolphins in the ocean before, but this feels different – more raw, more intimate. Except for the dolphins, we’re alone out here – just the two of us, our guide Causemore from Ibo Island Lodge (where we’re staying) and our boat captain.

We’re lucky the dolphins feel like company today. “Sometimes they love to interact with you, but other times they may not come close,” Causemore had told us earlier. These dolphins are so close we can make out the white markings on their backs, the occasional tears in their tails from mating fights, their rows of white teeth.

How many places in the world can you swim in the wild, alone, with dolphins that come within touching distance? It’s experiences like this – unique, authentic and totally non-touristy – that make northern Mozambique special.

Northern Mozambique has some stunning beaches, like this private beach on Quilalea Island

The northern part of the country boasts some of the best beaches in Mozambique – quiet, secluded beaches with powdery white sand.

Offshore, unspoilt snorkeling reefs and prolific marine life beckon.

Other Mozambique attractions:

But there are other things to do in Mozambique beyond the beach.

Northern Mozambique, especially, offers a big dollop of culture.

Ibo Island, for one, is nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status. It’s steeped in a rich tapestry of history – wander its haunting colonial ruins, observe the local traditions, and you’ll feel like you’ve stepped through a portal into a bygone world.

A typical street in Ibo Town – photo Ibo Island Lodge

Imagine how fabulous these buildings would be if the colonial ruins were restored!

What to do in Mozambique in Pemba

We start our northern Mozambique journey on the mainland at Pemba, the gateway to this part of the country.

From the small airport, a one-hour drive on a sunbaked red-dirt track – past women in colorful sarongs, babies strapped to their backs or with buckets of water on their heads – delivers us to an enormous white-walled property.

Perfect: A five-star resort in an unspoilt part of the northern Mozambique mainland! photo Diamonds Mequfi Beach Resort

Horseback riding on the beach:

One activity that catches our eye here is horseback riding.

The resort has its own spacious air-conditioned stable, housing seven much-pampered horses. And Mequfi Bay’s endless white sand beach – with not another dwelling in sight – is tailor-made for horseback riding.

If you know how to ride, you can canter freely along the water’s edge for miles.

We opt instead for a gentle ride late one afternoon. Happy to be led by a rope, our horses plod slowly along as we take in the colors of the sunset turning from blazing neon orange to soft pink.

At Diamonds Mequfi Beach Resort, you can ride horses along the beach

Trying the new sport of wind-karting:

“Perhaps you also want to try wind-karting?” offers the general manager. “It’s a Formula One adrenalin high.”

The hard-pack Mozambique beach at Mequfi Bay is ideal for this fast-growing new sport that’s popular in France (particularly on the beaches of Normandy).

Somewhat dubious, one of us (that would be George) gives it a spin the next morning.

Wearing a helmet, he tries to steer a fat-wheeled tricycle attached to a huge triangular sail, as the wind whips him along the sand dunes. Ego bruised when the wind-kart heads for the water, splashing him mightily, he gives up, envious of the expert kite surfer playfully skipping along the waves nearby.

George has fun trying the mad new sport of “wind-karting”

Bicycling, kayaking and recharging:

We also go bicycling by the full moon and paddle kayaks up a mangrove-lined river. But for the most part, our time here is spent relaxing, replenishing our safari-sapped energy reserves.

And so, after a few blissful days, we’re ready to venture to the Quirimbas.

Ibo Island in the Quirimbas Islands

First island stop: Ibo Island (where we swim with the dolphins). If you’re wondering where to go and what to do in Mozambique, put Ibo Island on your Mozambique itinerary!

Ibo Island history:

Arab, Indian and Chinese gold traders and slavers all dropped anchor at Ibo. The Portuguese then arrived in the early 1500s, building forts, slave quarters and colonial mansions.

The remnants remain today, whispering tales of both grandeur and the cruel peddling of human flesh.

What’s inside here? George checks out the ruins of an old Portuguese building

The local people on Ibo are shy, not used to seeing many visitors – photo Ibo Island Lodge

Mozambique attractions – Ibo Town:

On a walk of Ibo Town, we soak up the atmosphere.

Much of it seems stuck in the past (electricity only came in 2012).

There are no paved roads, just sandy paths on which islanders walk or ride rusty bicycles. Sunlight streams through open arches of empty white stone buildings. Graceful Romanesque-style columns stand proud and tall amid piles of coral rubble. Goats scramble around palm trees sprouting up through crumbling church ruins; monkeys hop on chipped red-tile roofs.

Goats makes themselves at home in some of the old ruins

With its ruins of a vanished world, Ibo Island has many tales to tell…

A house covered with cowrie shells is intriguing.

“The owner was a trader who was often away,” explains Causemore (he does double duty – guiding us on this cultural tour as well as on our dolphin swim).

“Every day he was at sea, his wife would walk the island and collect one shell, which she’d glue to the outside wall.”

We pass by a dig which a couple of Italian archaeologists have been working. Causemore tells us he often finds centuries-old objects lying about. We pick up pieces of blue-and-ivory china by the water’s edge at low tide – did they come from the dinner set of a wealthy Portuguese manor wife?

At the well-preserved Sao Joao Batista Fort, built in 1791 in the shape of a star, we admire intricate silver bracelets and necklaces hand-crafted by the island’s aged silversmiths.

The Sao Joao Batista Fort once served as a slave house; now silver artisans make and sell their jewelry inside

The people too are exotic to us Westerners.

The island is over 90% Muslim, and the sound of the Muezzin wafts through the fragrant warm air throughout the day. The women decorate their faces with mussiro (a white paste made from tree sap), protecting their skin from the searing sun.

A young woman wears mussiro on her face

On a cultural tour organized by Ibo Island Lodge, Janice gets her face painted with mussiro

Many people on Ibo Island live pretty much as they have for centuries – carrying water from the well, pounding peanuts in wooden bowls, which they stew with cassava leaves and coconut to make matapa (delicious!), weighing market items on old-fashioned scales.

Change, though, is coming.

Historic old houses are slowly being restored. A new Spanish-owned bungalow resort (rumoured to be five-star) is nearing completion, and we check out a boutique B&B that has just opened.

“Ibo is on the verge of being discovered,” Causemore muses.

Diving into luxury on Quilalea Island

We still have more of the Quirimbas Islands to discover for ourselves, and Quilalea Island, our final destination, beckons.

Like a couple of other small Quirimbas Islands, Quilalea is a private island (home to Azura Quilalea resort). Think uber-luxe – but in a carefree, barefoot kind of way. Before Pippa Middleton married, Vogue touted Azura Quilalea as a perfect paparazzi-free destination for her honeymoon.

Quirimbas National Park is a marine and land park stretching for 70 miles along the northeast coast of Mozambique; it protects the fertile coral reefs around 11 of the islands in the Quirimbas, including Quilalea. Sea turtles, moray and garden eels, stingrays, big-lipped potato bass and huge schools of brilliant red wrasse patrol these waters.

We’re going scuba diving in Mozambique! George gets suited up at Azura Quilalea for a dive

Still, we’ve set foot in more of northern Mozambique than we ever imagined – and stayed at some lovely Mozambique beach resorts! We’ve seen it in all its natural untouched beauty, before tourism has had a chance to change the landscape.

And that is a gift…

How to travel to Mozambique

Flying to Mozambique:

Getting to your destination in northern Mozambique requires effort. From Johannesburg, South Africa, we flew to Pemba, Mozambique, on LAM (Linhas Aereas de Mozambique), the country’s national airline.

Flying to the Quirimbas Islands:

To reach Ibo Island in the Quirimbas, we flew from Pemba by small plane with CR Aviation. Azura Quilalea Private Island arranges transfers on its own helicopter. For a multi-island holiday, flights can be arranged between the Quirimbas islands (we flew from Ibo Island to Quilalea Island on Azura’s chopper).

Luxury Mozambique resorts

In case you missed these, see our reviews on the following luxury resorts in Mozambique. Each is in a different location and offers different things to do in Mozambique. Putting them together makes an ideal northern Mozambique itinerary, with a good mix of culture, adventure and relaxation.

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Our magazine article on northern Mozambique

Our travel feature on “Dive into Northern Mozambique” was recently published in the Fall/Winter 2017 issue of Cruise & Travel Lifestyles magazine (it was the cover story). Click on the image below to see the PDF of the print article.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Oh my word. I hardly know what to say. First the title drew me in, then the incredible turquoise water. But reading your adventure with the dolphins was even more incredible. I now want to go to Mozambique so badly! The water, the ruins, the people and more!

We hope you get to visit there! Because it’s somewhat difficult to reach (and also expensive), this part of Mozambique is unlikely to suffer from an influx of tourists anytime soon. It should remain authentic and wild for a little while still…

Incredible off the beaten path destination. Luckily it’s hard to get to which I hope will keep it uncrowded and authentic. Dreamy immediately comes to mine. The wind-karting reminds me of the ice boating we used to do on the river growing up. I like the fact there is a helmet involved now! Seeing a secluded beach on your cover photo, I never thought there would be so many activities available to visitors on the Quirimbas. Wow!

That’s what we thought too when we arrived at our first resort in Mozambique — we’d just relax because there’d likely be little to do. Well, we were quite surprised! (Your “ice boating” sounds intriguing — that would be sailing on a boat rejigged to slide along ice?)